


Mothers of Companions Support Group

by Justphoenix



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Crack, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Thasmin (speculated), parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 15:32:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19008670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justphoenix/pseuds/Justphoenix
Summary: Najia Khan gets invited to meet the other companions’ mums, and they all have complaints about the Doctor.





	Mothers of Companions Support Group

Najia stood in her kitchen, barely noticing when the tea kettle whistled. She was too lost in her thoughts. Wrestling between fear and anger.

It had started three days ago. Yaz had gone out-with mates, she said-and hadn’t come home that night. She’d been worried sick, calling the police department, family, desperately looking for a sign of her. She’d called Hakim and Sonia, who were visiting family in Pakistan, but they hadn’t heard anything from her. Finally, that evening, Yaz had called, explaining she couldn’t come home right now, but she couldn’t say where she was. She called two more times, during the last she sounded woozy. Najia worried she was on drugs and partying with some low-lifes. Finally, Yaz had shown up tonight, her forearm wrapped in a bandage, and escorted by that strange blonde woman she’d met at the hotel a few months ago-the Doctor. She’d been suspicious of her since that kerfuffle with the spiders, and this time, she was getting some answers.

Najia had immediately sat them down and demanded to know everything, and Yaz had told them this wild story of traveling in space and how they’d gotten stuck in the middle of a war in the 31st century. She hadn’t believed a word until the Doctor summoned her spaceship, which for some reason looked like an old police box, right in the middle of their living room. The Doctor showed Najia its impossibly large inside as she stood with her mouth gaping open.

“It’s a laser burn.” The Doctor gestured to Yaz’s bandaged arm, as they sat on the sofa. “Yaz pushed a little boy out the line of fire. Saved his life. She was very brave.” It was not lost on Najia the way Yaz beamed at the other woman’s praise. “I took her to a 39th century hospital for treatment. They’re bang on for healing burns. It’ll be good as new in a few days.”

“I don’t care!” Najia tried to keep from shouting. “Doctor, you cannot take Yaz traipsing around the universe!”

“Mum!” Yaz looked embarrassed. “Don’t say that!”

“She’s brilliant, though. Love having her aboard.” The Doctor’s expression was hard to read, a mixture of resignation, but with a spark of hope. 

“And the Doctor has shown me so many things.” Yaz was desperate. “Galaxies being born! New species! Our future! I can’t give it up!” 

“I don’t care! Are you daft? Anything could happen to you!” Najia protested. 

The Doctor, who had been fidgeting uncomfortably, suddenly stood up. “Ya know, I really should be going. Let you two sort it out.” She gave an awkward smile. “See you soon, Yaz. Have a good night, Yaz’s mum.” 

“Bye, Doctor.” Yaz called as the Doctor strode into the box. Amazed, Najia watched as it disappeared with the same, odd woosh with which it had appeared a few minutes prior.

“Yaz, I meant what I said. You are not going with her again.” Najia said sternly. 

“You can’t tell me what to do, Mum! I’m not a child anymore!” Yaz’s nostrils flared and her fists clenched. She’d never seen her daughter so defiant. “Besides, I face danger all the time at work!”

“On Earth! Serving the public!” Najia retorted. “What you’re doing with the Doctor is just reckless! You barely know her! Do you know anything about where she came from, what her species is, if she’s not human?! She could be some…space con artist!”

“I trust her.” Her eyes shone brightly. “I told you, she’s saved my life a number of times. She’s saved so many people, whole civilizations…”

“What if you died out there? Would anyone tell us?”

“That’s not going to happen!”

“No, it’s not, because you’re staying on this planet, where you belong!”

“The hell I am!” Yaz ran into her room. Najia followed her to find her stuffing a few clothes and her toothbrush in a bag. 

“What are you doing?” 

“What does it look like?! I’m going to stay with Ryan and Graham, at least until the Doctor comes back!” Her former classmate and his grandfather, they’d been at the hotel, and the Doctor had mentioned they traveled with her too. 

Najia had tried to talk her out of it, but Yaz stormed out the door. 

That was three hours ago. Now she was drinking her tea, hoping it would help her sleep. She thought the hard part of raising kids was when they were younger. Late night screaming sessions from teething. Keeping them from eating things they shouldn’t. Trying to get them into a good school. No, this was much harder, watching her daughter make stupid decisions. Yaz had always been such a good kid, even if she was a little hot headed sometimes. Never got into trouble at school, did her homework, did her chores. What had gotten into her?

Her phone pinged with an incoming email. It was from an address she didn’t recognize. _We can help_ read the subject line. She decided it was probably phishing and deleted it. 

She sat down in a chair and flipped on the telly. Some repeats of this week’s _Coronation Street_ were on. She settled in to watch, though she hadn’t kept up with the show since Sunita was killed off. She fell asleep in the chair.

—

The next morning, Najia awoke with an aching neck and an empty flat. Yaz hadn’t come home, as she’d hoped. She checked her phone and found no texts, but four new emails from that same address. The most recent one had an alarming subject line: _Your daughter and the Doctor_.

Heart racing, she opened the email:

_Your daughter is traveling with the Doctor. We can help._ , followed by a phone number.

What was this? An enemy of the Doctor’s? Someone who could convince Yaz to see reason? Fingers shaking, she clicked on the phone number.

A woman’s voice answered. “Hello? Najia Khan?”

“Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Francine. Nice to meet you.”

“What do you know about the Doctor?”

“We can’t say much over the phone, because we don’t bloody know who’s listening. It’s for your daughter’s protection. Can we meet you in person?”

They made plans to meet in a coffee shop in London that afternoon. Najia had no idea what to expect or what she was walking into. She wondered if this was a trap of some sort, but thought she’d be safe enough in public. She tried texting Yaz about the strange phone call, but she didn’t know anything about it. She asked Yaz to come home, but was met with silence.

—  
Taking a deep breath, Najia stepped into the coffee shop. She’d went straight to the back room as she’d been instructed. The only occupied table had four middle aged women and a laptop, quietly talking amongst themselves. They stopped when she approached.

“Welcome, Najia.” One of them stood up. She was a black woman with wavy hair worn up, and a weariness in her eyes. “I’m Francine. Thank you so much for coming.”

Najia shook her hand, and sat down. “How did you know about Yaz traveling with the Doctor?”

“Because my daughter, Martha, did too.” She gestured to the other women. “All of our daughters have.”

“How did you find me? Are you connected with her somehow?” She didn’t keep the suspicion out of her voice.

“Oh no, no. The Doctor doesn’t know anything about this. Some of Martha’s old work mates make a hobby of keeping track of him.” Francine explained. “Anyway, this is Sylvia, Moira, Tabetha, and Skyping with us is Jackie.” She gestured to a blond woman on the screen.

Najia raised an eyebrow. “No dads?”

A woman with short blond hair and a tailored suit-Sylvia-laughed. “Oh no. The men don’t understand. They think going off with the Doctor is some great adventure. Sods never think about the consequences! Donna met him about ten years ago, and my dad thought he was the greatest thing ever.”

“And we tried inviting a dad to the group a while back. What was his girl’s name? Clara, I think? All he said was ‘Oh, the Doctor. Charming fellow. A bit odd.’” Francine rolled their eyes.

“Wait. Fellow? Are we talking about the same Doctor?” Najia asked. “Yaz introduced me to a woman.”

“Blue box, right? Bigger on the inside?” Jackie asked. Najia nodded. “That’s him. He can change his face. I’ve seen it. Didn’t know he could be a she though.” She looked thoughtful. “Wonder what happened…down there…”

“Let’s not get off topic.” Francine urged. 

“Right.” The woman with light brown hair-Tabetha-chimed in. “My Amy traveled with the Doctor for years. Appeared to her as a child. I thought he was her imaginary friend. I took her to four psychiatrists and she kept insisting he was real.”

Yaz had mentioned time travel, and told her a story about meeting Rosa Parks. “He couldn’t have shown up before that point?” Najia asked.

“He doesn’t think like that.” Tabetha frowned.

“Agreed. Not big on thinking of the consequences of other people around him. Bloody git.” Sylvia added.

This was a lot of new information to take in. But one important question remained. “So how did you convince them to stop going off with that nutter?”

“You can’t.” Jackie shrugged. “Nothing would have kept my Rose away from him. Nothing.” The other women nodded. 

“Martha only stopped after a madman destroyed the entire planet.” Francine told her.

“What?!” Najia was alarmed. “Does that happen in the future?!” 

“Already did. And didn’t. Long story.” Francine looked down and sighed.

“There’s a lot of long stories with the Doctor.” Tabetha frowned. 

All of these women had a daughter who met the Doctor, and thought the world of her-or him-but were no longer with him. Najia was almost afraid to ask. “So..if I’m not being too intrusive…what happened…”

“Dead. In the past.” Tabetha sighed. “She and her husband just went missing one day. Finally my son-in-law’s dad told me what happened.” 

“Gone.” The darker brunette-Moira-finally spoke. “Bill just disappeared and weeks later, I got this message she was seeing the universe with someone named Heather. Two girls hanging out together. Sounds nice, actually. Hoping she’ll meet a nice man, though.”

“Alive, but he wiped her mind.” Sylvia said. “A year of her life gone.” 

“Stuck in a parallel universe. But I’m here too.” Jackie added.

“How are you talking to us from a parallel universe?” Najia asked.

“My son-in-law arranged it. He asked me not to tell anyone how he did it, so keep it hush-hush.” She grinned. “My son-in-law…that’s a really long story.”

Najia was stunned. “What has Yaz gotten herself into?”

“Cheer up, love, it’s not all bad.” Jackie assured her. “The Doctor’s a real tosser, but he does some good things.”

“He got Bill to enroll in university.” Moira said. “She was just a lunch lady before.”

“I got back together with my husband because of the Doctor.” Francine smiled a bit. “He was dating some trollop half his age.”

“I got back together with my husband, and he was dead!” Jackie gave a wide smile. 

“He gave Donna a winning lottery ticket. She can even afford to live in Central London!” Sylvia exclaimed. “And she loves taking me shopping. Look at this Gucci purse she got for me last week!” The ladies admired her handbag. She added, “He does try to keep them safe. It just doesn’t always work out.”

The Doctor had been great at figuring out what happened with the spiders, and she didn’t hesitate to tell off that idiot Robertson. “Do you have any advice on handling the Doctor?” Najia asked.

“No. Weddings.” Sylvia was emphatic. “He ruined Donna’s reception. Some _things_ started shooting at all the guests!”

“That numpty showed up in his stupid box at Amy’s!” Tabetha added. “I had to explain that to three hundred people, half of whom wanted to hire him to do his ‘magic trick’ at their events!” 

Jackie laughed. “The stories I could tell you about the Doctor and weddings!” She turned serious. “There’s one other thing, though. Do you think your daughter fancies the Doctor? If so, she’s in for a broken heart. Because as you see, he doesn’t stick around that long with anyone.” Francine nodded in agreement.

Najia thought about the way Yaz’s face lit up when she talked about the Doctor. “I think she might, actually. I asked her about it and she said they were just friends. Of course, I don’t think she’s going to tell me much about the argument we had last night. She went to her friend’s house and will barely talk to me.”

“You need to trust Yaz.” Francine said. “The Doctor might be a wanker, but he’s not daft. He doesn’t choose just anyone. Our daughters are all from different walks of life, but they’re clever, and courageous, and resourceful, and they want to see what’s out there. They’re capable of extraordinary things, even though we still think of them as our little girls.” 

“Donna was just a secretary when she met the Doctor. She saved the universe.” Sylvia told her.

Najia took all this in for a few moments. “So now what happens?”

“Go talk to Yaz. She’ll get over whatever fight you two had. And you can talk to us any time you’d like. We meet in person once a month, and we share stories about the Doctor.” Sylvia said. “More like complaints, actually.” 

“Oh my God, do we have stories for you!” Jackie laughed. “Like the time he took me to Torchwood! Completely oblivious to the fact I was aboard the TARDIS.”

“I spent a whole year with him, so I got to hear a lot of whining. ‘Francine, I’m sooooo old. I don’t like it. How do you stand it?’ She raised her eyebrows. “He got us all captured, and he has the nerve to say that to me?!”

Najia smiled for the first time. “Does the Doctor remember your names? She can’t remember mine at all! It’s always “Yaz’s mum’ this and ‘Yaz’s mum’ that. How hard is it to remember Najia?! It’s five bloody letters!”

The other women laughed. “But he acts like he knows _everything_!” Tabetha added.

“Yep.” Najia nodded.

“And he NEVER STOPS TALKING!” Jackie exclaimed. “But somehow I’m the one who has to shut up!”

The women spent the afternoon laughing and sharing stories about the Doctor. Najia still felt unsettled about what Yaz was doing, but now she knew a lot more about the Doctor. And the ladies were right-she couldn’t keep Yaz out of danger forever. She’d keep a close eye on the Doctor-invite her to tea again, ask a lot of questions, find out exactly what her intentions were. As they said, to be forewarned was to be forearmed.

While she was on the train ride home, she got a text message from Yaz:

_Came home. Where are u?_

She texted back, _Out with friends. Will be back in a few hours. Talk when I come back?_

_Yeah. Sorry about last night_. Came the reply.

_I’m sorry too. See you soon._


End file.
